Americana UK Laments That Fruit Bats Will Tour North America This Spring
Americana UK has coverage of the new Fruit Bats single “Rushin’ River Valley,” but the publication sounds miffed that Eric D. Johnson won’t be visiting the UK as a solo artist this Spring. “There’ll be an extensive North American tour, covering the USA and Canada. Which admittedly isn’t a lot of use to us here in the UK.” Dang. Hear […]
New Music From Rose’s Pawn Shop
With their fusion of bluegrass instrumentation and folk-rock amplification, Rose’s Pawn Shop has spent the better part of two decades carving out an Americana sound that’s as diverse as the band’s native Los Angeles. Their past releases offer a melting pot of modern-day roots music, shot through with electric guitar, fiddle, raw percussive stomp, and stacked vocal […]
Off Shelf Interviews James Yorkston and Nina Persson
In a recent interview with Off Shelf, the Cardigans’ Nina Persson explains why she was compelled to join James Yorkston and the Second Hand Orchestra as they collaborated on the follow-up to their acclaimed debut LP The Wide, Wide River. “James and I have a friend in common with Karl-Jonas [Winquivist, the bandleader of the Second Hand Orchestra]… he’s […]
The Bluegrass Situation Shares Fruit Bats’ Newest Jam
According to Eric D. Johnson, new Fruit Bats’ single “Rushin’ River Valley” is a song “about true love, and the question of whether we are fated to be together or if it’s all just universal chaos tossing us around. It’s also about ghosts and bad dreams and trying to move forward and climbing over a mountain and hoping […]
Dusted Praises Mary Halvorson’s Recognizable Yet Foreign Jazz Stylings
Dusted writes, “Mary Halvorson is usually doing something novel. In this case, it’s not just that she’s releasing a pair of albums that simultaneously stand alone and sit in conversation with each other. It’s also that she now writes for string quartet (plus guitar, of course). Amaryllis and Belladonna, the two new albums, mark the next step in her ever-expanding interests. […]
Full Time Aesthetic Catches June McDoom At Brooklyn Steel
Full Time Aesthetic was at Brooklyn Steel for June McDoom‘s set opening for Nick Hakim this weekend. According to the site’s Kate Bell, McDoom cast “her own sonic magic on the crowd with whispery soft vocals over a unique mix of folk-rock, soul, and reggae… Her live set more than lived up to the beauty of her recordings.” Read more, and see […]
Rose’s Pawn Shop Explains “Gratitude” To The Bluegrass Situation
“Gratitude,” an advance single from the new Rose’s Pawn Shop album that’s almost out, has been featured in The Bluegrass Situation. The site has a quote about the song from songwriter Paul Givant, who explains, “I realized I was writing a song about several people I had lost in my life in the past few years. And how the pain […]
The Free Jazz Blog Gushes Over Mary Halvorson
The Free Jazz Blog has a gushing review of Mary Halvorson‘s Amaryllis and Belladonna, two twin releases at radio now from Nonesuch. Amaryllis, according to the site, “has the variety of voices, the easy switch between out and hip jazz, and the big group arrangements that bring all of it together in a jazz and cinematic way.” On Belladonna, “an […]
New Music From Fruit Bats
Eric D. Johnson’s Fruit Bats will release a new album, A River Running to Your Heart, on April 14 via Merge Records. A River Running to Your Heart is Fruit Bats’ first full-length album since The Pet Parade in 2021 and follows Johnson’s involvement in indie folk trio Bonny Light Horseman’s critically acclaimed 2022 album, Rolling Golden Holy. “Over the years there’s been a lot […]
Folk Radio UK Praises The “Emotional and Visceral” New LP From James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra
Folk Radio UK has coverage of the new album from James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra, noting that “the recording process for The Great White Sea Eagle, much like its predecessor [The Wide, Wide River], involved Yorkston withholding his songs from his band until the start of the recording sessions. This technique has fostered a spirit […]
Riff Magazine Shares “Gratitude” By Rose’s Pawn Shop
Riff Magazine has shared “Gratitude,” which is among the advance singles from Rose’s Pawn Shop‘s soon-to-be-released new album Punch-Drunk Life. Author Rachel Goodman writes, “I was immediately drawn into this song, from the bluegrass fiddle opening. It felt like I’d stepped into Appalachian country. Yet, this song also has a ’70s sound long since forgotten. There’s also a […]
Mary Halvorson’s Dual LPs Get The AllMusic Treatment
AllMusic has reviewed Amaryllis and Belladonna by Mary Halvorson, both of which are at radio now from Nonesuch Records. “The language Halvorson constructs on Amaryllis,” the site writes here, “is lush yet balanced and symmetrical. Her harmonic core, though fluid, offers a generous tonal palette for ensemble players and soloists alike, no matter who ultimately converses with who, while her melodies are simultaneously memorable, […]
David Hillyard Goes West With The Rocksteady 7
Last year, we serviced the excellent Plague Doctor LP by David Hillyard and The Rocksteady 7, which mixed ska-inflected jazz with Brazilian sounds for a set that was deeply accomplished and familiar yet novel. In its review, Upstarter wrote that “If you were to throw this on the hi-fi at a swanky cocktail party, the guests and location would transport […]
New Music From James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra
James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra share The Great White Sea Eagle, the follow up to James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Wide, Wide River – a Guardian Top 10 Folk Album of 2021. The record didn’t start life as a follow up; in early 2021, Yorkston began visiting his studio in Cellardyke, Fife and for the first […]
Rock Cellar Applauds IPR’s Shiva Burlesque Reissue
Rock Cellar Magazine has the recent Independent Project Records’ release from Shiva Burlesque – Mercury Blues + Skulduggery – on its list of “Under-the-Radar Releases/Reissues” of 2022. “Before Grant Lee Buffalo arrived in the early 1990s to enchant college and alt-rock radio listeners,” the site writes, “its three members spent time in the hazy, jarring alternative band Shiva Burlesque. Sophomore album Mercury Blues bears touchstones of […]
Glide Approves Of Rose’s Pawn Shop’s Forthcoming LP
Glide Magazine has a review of Punch Drunk Life, the forthcoming new LP from Rose’s Pawn Shop from which three advance singles are at radio now. “The band has refined its signature mix of bluegrass instrumentation with roots-rock flourishes,” the site tells readers. “One of already three released singles… ‘Ghost Town’ [is] about facing a crossroads, grappling with the loss […]
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Recommends Mary Halvorson
Writing on his Substack last year, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – the six-time NBA champion, Airplane! co-star, and prolific social commentator – recommended Mary Halvorson‘s dual Nonesuch debuts, Amaryllis and Belladonna. According to the Tower From Power, “This two-LP set by guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson, a MacArthur Fellow, is pretty much everything you’d want in contemporary jazz. There’s an etherial beauty in her collaborations with the Mivos Quartet and a […]
June McDoom Adds Dates, Including Three Shows Supporting alt-J’s Anniversary Tour
June McDoom, whose dreamy eponymous debut LP came out last year via Temporary Residency Ltd. and found favor from Aquarium Drunkard for its “delicate folk rock with synthy textures and kaleidoscopic ambiance,” has added more live dates to her already-robust early 2023 schedule. Her cross-continent jaunt with Nick Hakim begins this Friday, and she has just-announced dates supporting Katie Von Schleicher at […]
James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra Earn Plaudits From Bandcamp
The Great White Sea Eagle, just released via Domino by James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra – was Bandcamp’s Album of The Day last Thursday, January 12. According to the site, the record “offers understated surprises at every turn… Familial love is a recurring theme across The Great White Sea Eagle, presented through a lens of grandchildren and grandparents, the bewilderment of […]
Gus Englehorn Lands On More 2022 Best-Of Lists
Gus Englehorn had a busy year supporting Dungeon Master, his stunning and strange sophomore album released by Secret City Records. Find “Tarantula,” from the album, on Eat This Music’s list of favorite songs of the year, here. The album also made it to #9 on CHYZ‘s list of its most-played Anglo records of the year, which can be found here. Thanks to […]
